


Come on, lets get out of this rain.

by CakeIsGood



Category: All Elite Wrestling, Real Person Fiction
Genre: AEW - Freeform, Angst, Depression, F/M, Friendship, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Sweet, romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CakeIsGood/pseuds/CakeIsGood
Summary: “I used your shower gel, I hope that’s ok?” Tyson asked, and Liz turned to face him.Two things hit Liz at once, firstly ABS. Secondly, trying to remember what Ty had just asked her. She decided to stick with nodding and trying her hardest to keep her eyes on his face.“I made your bed” she said, for that was what she could get to come out of her mouth.“Oh amazing, looks like heaven right now.” Tyson ruffled his hair, to which came Liz’s new problem. Curls. Dyed weirdly, blonde and brown but strangely hot, curls. Slightly damp, but still pretty and that with the abs, and oh he has good shoulders too.This is a story of two people, one being a world famous pro-wrestler and the other being a depressed statistician.This is based off Tyson Smith, the guy who performs as Kenny Omega, who falls in love with the woman who saves his life.No offence meant, awkward "I don't really know who this guy really is, but I thought the situation was cute." The E is for explicit language, but who knows I may write something filthy to end up. I dunno yet.
Relationships: Kenny Omega/Original Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. How They Meet

**Author's Note:**

> So like I said in the description, this is purely work of fiction. The guy that plays Kenny Omega on our screens is probably nothing like the guy I'm writing about. Truly I'm using the basic info we know; his name, he works for AEW and he's Canadian, and just writing a cute story of this imaginary guy I don't know and this imaginary girl I don't know. I thought of the scenario and then went from there. If you ever see this Tyson, my apologies, please don't read it, it's probably really fucking weird to read. Anyone else, feel free to critique my style of writing and also tell me I'm shit. Take care and please be nice to people.

“You think you’re fucking funny don’t ya?”

Liz was walking down the off street back towards home, it was wet and miserable, with warm lights coming from each pub and bar she passed. It wasn’t the nicest of walks home, but it was the quickest and she was desperate to get out of this miserable weather.

She heard the threat as she neared an alleyway next to one of her favourite frequents for a lonely pint, when she stopped short. Peeking down the alleyway she saw two men standing and one on his knees, with what looked like blood everywhere.

‘Ok’ she thought, ‘I could call the police, but will they arrive on time?’ SMACK! She heard the sound of hard punch and no more deliberation needed.

“OY! What the fuck are you doing?!” She shouted walking over to the men.

“Nothing you need to worry about princess” One of the standing men answered, when the man on the ground punched him in the gut.

“Sure, nothing to worry about.” Liz muttered, more to herself than anything and walked over to the other man standing and gave him a kick to his groin, and as he groaned and grabbed his genitalia, she punched him right across the nose. She didn’t notice the guy on the ground try to stand and attack the other man standing but turned and swung for the other assumed mugger.

The mugger grabbed her arm and went for Liz’s hair before she kicked him as hard as she could in his crotch before going for another punch to the face, this one landed and he fell to the ground also.

The bleeding man stood up and kicked both of the down men a couple of times before facing Liz. His face was bloodied and bruised and there was a definite few stitches needed and maybe a broken nose.

“Thank you, how did you-?” the man started before Liz cut him off.

“Doesn’t matter, lets get you to a hospital.” Liz went to help him walk but he shrugged him off.

“No, no hospitals. Fuck” He was rummaging his pockets and pulled out a phone with a broken screen. “Fuck, ok ..” He was mumbling to himself and was clearly drunk.

“Ok no hospitals, lets walk away from this place ok?” Liz turned to the two blokes who were laying unconscious on the ground.

“Ok” the bloodied man replied, and they started walking back onto the street.

Liz tried to assess the situation; the man was clearly not poor, with both his clothes and phone telling a story of a fairly well-off guy. Then the muscles; the man looked like a gym fanatic with the shirt he was wearing clinging to abs. Liz bit her lip, ‘now is not the time to be checking out the bleeding guy’.

“Ok, what’s your name?” Liz asked, stopping and touching his elbow to get him to stop too.

“Tyson” He responded, he touched just above his eyebrow, where he was clearly bleeding from. Liz reached across to his face and used her hand to tilt his head and look, he let her for some reason she didn’t know, maybe because she assaulted two guys just to save him.

“Ok Tyson, I’m Liz, do you live nearby, because if you don’t want to go to the hospital, we should at least clean those cuts up and bandage you up a little.” Why she said ‘we’ she couldn’t quite understand, she was thrusting herself into the situation now.

“Uh, I don’t live around here, I’m a pro-wrestler and I’m staying in a hotel after we had a show tonight.” He seemed almost embarrassed by it, scratching the back of his head nervously.

“Ok mate, hotel? Which hotel are you staying in?” Liz smiled when he said pro-wrestler, having been a fan a few years ago of WWE. She’d watch all of the weekly shows and pay-per-views, although hadn’t in a while. His physique made sense given the explanation, though he wasn’t as tall as the guys she used to watch.

“Um.. Right, good point…” Ty responded and fumbled in his jean’s pockets again. “I can’t find my wallet… Fuck where’s my wallet?” He stumbled on his feet slightly and Liz put out her arm to hold him up. The rain continued to pour down and Liz began to worry about this guy catching a death in this weather.

“Doesn’t matter, its wet and miserable, do you remember where you are staying?” Liz tried to not let the frantic she felt inside, out in her words.

“No… Fuck… P… Maybe something beginning with a P?” He slurred slightly when he spoke and Liz took hold of him again.

“Ok, so tell me if this is ok; my apartment is around the corner, I’ve got water and some food for you to try and sober up, I can fix up the cut on your face and you can borrow my laptop to log in to Facebook or something? Message one of your friends to come and get you?” Liz could almost kick herself, ‘why is she always a sucker for taking in strays and helping people?’ Last time was her friend Kate, who she found one day drunk and crying outside her fiancé’s door. Kate had been cheated on by her fiancé and lost her job in one day. Liz took her in, helped her find a job and the two were close friends ever since.

“I don’t have Facebook… but I have Instagram. It could work… Are you sure? I can stay here.” Tyson turned around to see if there was somewhere, he could sleep, ‘maybe one of the closed shop’s doorways?’.

“Yes, its fine, come on, lets get out of this rain.” Liz took the Tyson’s elbow and led him down the street and round the corner to the block of apartments. Ty couldn’t tell whether they were nice or not, with his pounding head and blurred vision, but he didn’t care. The promise of food and warmth sounded really good.

He was led up the stairs to the building and into an elevator. Once in the elevator he suddenly noticed that not only did Liz sound nice, with an English accent, but she looked nice too. She was put together, wearing office clothes and had her hair tied back.

“You ok there pal? You look like you’re staring into space?” Liz asked, and Ty caught himself and turned away.

“Yeah, head hurts that’s all.” He muttered and looked at his feet.

“Its ok, we will get you all sorted out in no time. You’ll be in your hotel bed and snoring away as soon as we can.”

The elevator bell dinged, and Liz helped Tyson out of the lift and started down the corridor; it was all a blur for Ty, who’s head was spinning and face hurt.

Liz helped him onto her sofa and quickly took off her black pea coat, and shoes. She reached for a glass, filled it with water from the tap and handed it to the man on her sofa. He looked uncomfortable, as if he was afraid of touching anything.

“Here, drink this whilst I get the First Aid kit” She told him, and he took the glass of water gratefully.

Ty looked around the room, it was a kitchen/living room open plan space, which looked modern, with white walls and industrial pieces. He noticed the wooden countertop space and thought of his old home in Canada.

“Hey, I’ve got the first aid stuff” Liz broke Tyson’s trail of thought and he snapped his head towards her, too quickly probably as his head throbbed as he did. “Ok let me have look at your face.”

She pulled the coffee table towards the couch and sat on it, her legs around Tyson’s, she opened up the first aid kit and stopped.

“Ok, how likely are you to throw up?” She asked, Ty could feel her warmth radiating towards him.

“Not really” he croaked out, his voice giving up on him.

“Ok, that’s good no sick bowl needed. But I think I’m going to need some water to wash all the blood off your face.” She placed a piece of gauze to above Ty’s eyebrow, “hold this here” She told him before walking over to the kitchen area. She pulled out a mixing bowl and filled it with some water and headed back over to Tyson.

“Ok, hold that there a little pressure is needed.” She told him, before putting on some gloves and beginning with a damp muslin cloth, gently wiping away the blood from his face.

It was all over from his forehead downwards, a lot coming from the cut above his left eyebrow. She noticed his lips were bruised and Liz let out a breath, reminding herself to keep focussed. Once she could see what was going on properly, she tried her best to bandage him up. She used band aids, cut thinly, to try and pinch the cut together, like make do butterfly bandage stitches, lots of antiseptic wipes, liquid and cream to try to do her best at sorting out this man’s face.

“Ok, I’m going to get you some ice to put against your nose. It doesn’t look broken, because its not crooked, but it looks swollen already. How are you feeling?”

“Grateful” Ty responded, smiling at Liz who tried to ignore whatever was going on in her stomach.

“Ok, right, um.. laptop. Message your friends, ice for your nose, and I’ll make you a sandwich.” Liz turned away from him and got an ice bag thing out of the freezer, wrapped it in a tea towel and handed it over to him. She picked up all the used and bloodied gauzes and band aid wrappers and threw them in the bin and handed over her laptop. She put google up in front of Ty and placed the laptop on the table and then went back to make him a sandwich.

Liz was a fitness-focussed person and didn’t tend to have much bread in the house, but Kate and her, now 3-year-old daughter had been over and she new Lucy liked jam sandwiches. Or ‘jelly’ sandwiches as they called them. She made a peanut butter and jam sandwich and refilled Tyson’s water, as she heard typing on the laptop.

“Logged in?” She asked, placing the plate down and looking over at the screen.

“Yeah, but none of the boys are replying.”

All of the ‘boys’ Tyson was messaging had blue ticks next to their names, ‘hmm so he is famous then’ Liz thought and sat down next to Ty.

She could see the previous messages from one of them had been “Dude where are you? We’re heading back to the hotel”, which was two hours ago.

Tyson sighed, and took one of the sandwiches and took a bite, after making rather contented noises, he swallowed; “That was really good, thank you.”

“It’s just PB&J” Liz responded and waved it off with her hand. “I need to shower and get changed, now I’m trusting you that hasn’t been a whole rouse to steal my laptop and TV, ok?” She was only half joking, and Ty quickly tried to swallow another bite.

“Oh god, no, yeah I’m sorry it’s so late. I can go, I honestly don’t want to be a bother.” He started to get up, but Liz stood up quickly.

“No, no, don’t be silly. Stay as long as it takes for you friend’s to respond. Hell, if they don’t respond within the hour, you crash here for the night. That sofa you’re sitting on, pulls out into a bed.”

“Oh I don’t want to put you out, and-” Liz cut him off again.

“Shut up, don’t be silly, just sit down, eat your food, drink the water and hold the ice on your nose. Ok?” Tyson nodded his head in defeat and sat down. “Ok, Imma be back in about 5 minutes ok?” another nod.

Liz took the nod and headed to her bathroom and got the shower going.

As she did Ty sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes, he let out a breath and succumbed to the thoughts of embarrassment. This poor woman having to take care of him, because he’s too fucked and too stupid to take care of himself. Why does he pick fights with strangers when he’s drunk? To feel something? He didn’t know, but what he did know was that if it wasn’t for Liz, he would have ended up in a ditch somewhere. ‘How did he let himself get to this point?’

He wasn’t sure how long he was sitting there with his eyes closed, but the next thing he heard was an awkward cough and he opened his eyes to see a wet-haired, pyjama wearing Liz, holding a towel and some sweatpants. She looked cute in the pjs; shorts and a matching short sleeved blouse, both coloured light blue, her hair was pulled back into a bun and with it being wet, the strawberry-blonde coloured hair looked more auburn.

“So I was thinking, if you wanna crash here, you can have a shower, I have these sweats that might fit you, and I can wash and tumble-dry your clothes for you to wear tomorrow? So you’re not sleeping in wet clothes?” Liz handed over the items and Ty nodded.

“Yeah that’ll be amazing; still no answer from any of the boys, I don’t know what’s going on… I know it was a messy night, but at least one of them should have their phones on… I dunno…” He stood up carefully and put the ice down onto the coffee table.

“It is 2 o’clock, and if they’re anything like you, they might be too drunk to look at their phones?” Liz smiled and picked up the sandwich-less plate and icepack. “Oh!” she suddenly said as if remembering something, “I might also have a t-shirt about that might fit you” She began to put the plate and ice pack down, looking rather flustered and a little red tinge coming onto her face.

“No no, don’t stress yourself; just thank you, for all of this, I don’t know what I’d have done without you.” Ty smiled and put a hand on Liz’s arm who stopped flustering about and looked at him, a smile pulled onto her face and she scrunched up her face a little.

“I am glad. I am a sucker for helping people who need it, often at the expense of myself. It’s a habit that though I’m proud of, I really should stop doing as much… But I’m glad you feel that way.” She turned her face slightly, “Oh the shower is in there and there is a packet of spare toothbrushes above the sink you can use.”

“Thank you” he responded and turned towards the door Liz had pointed out and went to shower.

Tyson saw an open door obviously to Liz’s bedroom; he couldn’t see much, but pale blue walls and a wooden bed with a white bedspread. He opened the bathroom door and it was still fairly humid from where Liz had had her shower. The extractor fan was on though, and the noise of it cut through the buzzing in his head, from the beat down and the drinking. He noticed Liz had a bath and a separate shower, and for the first time he wondered about whether she was rich, had a boyfriend, what her job was and whether he could move in because ohmygod the shower was amazing. Maybe due to having been in soaking wet, cold clothes for so long, or drinks or the pain in his face, he felt his knees weaken from how good it felt to have a shower.

He noticed Liz had a big bottle of shower gel and thought she wouldn’t mind if he borrowed some, he felt dirty and could pay her back if not. Wherever his wallet was. He needed to phone his bank to freeze his accounts asap, but tomorrow. He will do it tomorrow. Right now, he just wanted to be clean, warm and then sleep.

As Ty stepped out of the shower and towelled himself down, he wondered why Liz would have such big sweat pants, they were 2 XL and too big really for Ty, but they were comfy, grey with elasticated cuffs at the bottom. It was then he looked in the mirror, and boy oh boy, he was not ready for that reflection. The bruised, swollen nose and eyes, they were almost shut, and then his lips that Liz had put some Vaseline on (of which that was a moment Ty was going to think about for a while) and the dressing covered patch of his head, he knew had a massive cut in it. She’d done a good job, all things considered. It was again that Tyson felt embarrassed, embarrassed that he’d done this to himself.

Liz had just finished putting fresh warm sheets on the pull-out sofa-bed when she heard the door of the bathroom open. She threw the duvet onto the bed and tidied it up so it looked nice, perfectionist life, and all that. Why did it need to be tidy, given that he’s going to get right into it? The reason was ‘standards’. Liz liked to keep up the standards in all aspects of her life. Her house was tidy and clean, she was fit and healthy, worked hard at her job and everything had to be done, just so.

“I used your shower gel, I hope that’s ok?” Tyson asked, and Liz turned to face him.

Two things hit Liz at once, firstly ABS. Secondly, trying to remember what Ty had just asked her. She decided to stick with nodding and trying her hardest to keep her eyes on his face.

“I made your bed” she said, for that was what she could get to come out of her mouth.

“Oh amazing, looks like heaven right now.” Tyson ruffled his hair, to which came Liz’s new problem. Curls. Dyed weirdly, blonde and brown but strangely hot, curls. Slightly damp, but still pretty and that with the abs, and oh he has good shoulders too. Liz turned her face and quickly walked over to the kitchen, fixing him and her a glass of water. As she turned around, she almost collided into to Tyson who was holding some damp clothes in his hands, she spilt a little of the water, but luckily it landed on the already damp clothes so she just let out a laugh.

“You move silently” she laughed and put the glasses down on the countertops.

“Yeah, bad habit of not wanting to wake up roommates.” Tyson responded with a laugh.

“Ok washing, so here’s my washer dryer” Liz opened a cupboard that concealed the utility object, and another narrow cupboard that had two pull out shelves, “and here’s the detergent.” She took the clothes from his hands and instinctively checked the pockets, a habit she got into after washing her phone once; speaking of; “ah your phone, here.” She handed it over, before feeling embarrassed from having searched through his clothes.

“Oh thank you, I forgot about that.” Liz stood up after putting the washing on.

“Yeah I once washed my phone and so since then have learnt to always check. Speaking of your phone, I think the crack isn’t the reason why its not working. I think it got wet in the rain.”

“That’s a good point” Ty nodded as Liz bustled around her kitchen cupboards before returning with a bowl full of rice.

“Its an old trick, but it might save your phone?” She smiled and he took the phone out of its case, and then put it in the rice.

“Thanks, honestly, you have been too good to me.” Ty placed his hand on Liz’s shoulder and their eyes met. An image of them kissing popped into Ty’s head and he dropped his arm, awkward. “We could watch some TV for a bit if you want,” he said turning to the now bed. He turned back around to see Liz looking at the clock on the wall.

“It’s late. Almost half two. I should go to bed.” She placed the bowl onto the counter and went to walk towards her bedroom.

“You could join me for a bit?” Ty blurted out, not even sure what he was offering. Why did he even say that? Liz turned back around, and Ty hadn’t seen anyone look more uncomfortable. “Or not, it’s late, we should sleep.” Ty walked to the sofa bed and got in, “goodnight”, he hadn’t realised that Liz hadn’t moved, but was stood exactly where she was, when she turned around. Suddenly she nodded her head and turned back around down the corridor to her bedroom.

“Goodnight Ty” He heard her shout, so he responded with the same. Suddenly there was a sound like a light switch and the open planned room he was in suddenly went dark. She’d turned off the light, he realised before laying down properly, with his head on the pillow. The sofa bed was surprisingly comfy. Maybe from the tough match that night, maybe the drinking and the beating he took or maybe the bed was just good, whatever it was, he was asleep within minutes.


	2. A Friendship Is Born

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after the night before

Liz woke up to her alarm as always; set at 7:30 on the weekends (6:30 on the weekdays) and as she stared blankly at her phone screen she suddenly sat up with a start, remembering the night before.

‘There’s a shirtless, attractive pro-wrestler in my living room.’ Liz let out a breath and grabbed her laptop and brushed her hair behind her ears. After googling “Tyson pro-wrestler” she found one wrestler for WWE but that wasn’t him; Liz stopped, ‘what if the whole thing had been a ruse?’ and as soon as the thought popped into her head another did;

‘What if Tyson is his real name, not his performance name?’ With a quick google search of “Pro-wrestler real name Tyson” and some scrolling through google images, she came across one of him. Kenny Omega.

Just as attractive, with his stupid abs and stupid hair posing confidently. ‘He seems pretty cocky, unlike the mild-mannered man I met last night’ but there he was. It wasn’t a lie. A world-renowned pro-wrestler is in her living room.

After a few moments of letting that sink in, and then a little longer staring at photos, Liz got up out of bed for her favourite thing to do on a Saturday; make pancakes. Normally she’s too busy rushing about for work during the week, but every Saturday morning she makes pancakes for herself.

After popping to the loo and taking her hair out of its messy bun-come birds-nest, she quietly walked to the kitchen, and there he was; fast asleep, on his side facing her. She ignored the thought of ‘cute’ that popped into her head and began making pancakes.

Since moving to America, she moved from her normal pancake-style of thin rolled pancakes with maple syrup, to thick fluffy pancakes with maple syrup. So she began as she always did, but making sure to make enough for the man fast asleep on her couch. She put his wet and clean washing onto a drying setting and also checked his phone. It didn’t turn on properly but did show the “battery needs charging” symbol, so she plugged it in and was pleased that her rice plan had worked.

Thinking for a moment, Liz thought about the fact she’d always put her veggie bacon on top of her pancakes, as well as some fruit; and realised that Tyson probably ate meat, luckily she had some leftover bacon from Kate and Lucy’s visit the day before, so started that going too.

She poured herself a mug of green tea, and realised also that Tyson probably drank coffee, so made a pot of that too. Why was she nervous? It’s just a really attractive, famous bloke who you will probably never meet again. Time to listen to some music really quietly, yes Wicked soundtrack.

Tyson woke to the smell of bacon and coffee. He’d almost forgotten where he was until he saw Liz quietly singing to herself as she danced around with a spatula in her hand. She was wearing the same cute pjs as the night before and her hair was in a ponytail. Ty watched her for a bit, enjoying seeing someone so happy and in their own bubble. Of course as he felt like a creep watching her, she suddenly realised she was being watched.

“Oh, Ty, good morning. Sorry I didn’t realise you were awake. How are you feeling?” Liz immediately had stopped dancing and now was looking firmly at the pan she was cooking in.

“Yeah sorry, you looked so happy, didn’t want to disturb you,” Ty tried frantically to come up with something other than ‘you’re pretty’ and ‘I enjoy watching you’. “Do you have coffee on the go?” He asked, pulling the duvet back and getting out of the bed. Again Liz looked down at the pan and nodded.

“Yeah, and pancakes and bacon. Oh and your phone is not dead!” She gestured to the phone sat on the countertop plugged into the wall, and turned around a poured a cup of coffee, “do you like your coffee black? Or?”

“Amazing, thanks for the whole rice thing!” Ty walked over to his phone, “Oh yeah black please”

Liz handed over the coffee and continued to make breakfast.

“Honestly you’re a star… Do you normally pick strays off the street?” Ty joked, lifting his head up from staring at his phone.

“Um I have done. My best friend Kate, I actually found crying on her fiancé’s doorstep. That’s how we met. I took her in and helped her get a job, and now she’s happier. It’s like my proudest achievement, that’s including my degree!” Liz joked, and looked up to see Ty looking right back at her. “In fact,” Liz said swallowing and turning her head away again, “Its lucky her and her daughter were here yesterday. I don’t normally stock bread, nor real meat. I’m a veggie, who tries to be healthy. Any bread I eat, I try my hardest to bake myself. I mean, I’m not perfect, but I try. So yeah, bacon and pancakes for breakfast, if you want some.?” Ty smiled and shook his head slightly, almost in shock.

“I don’t know how I managed to get saved by this amazing woman, who helps people, saves my fucking life, takes me in and cooks me breakfast the next day… How does that even happen?” Ty saw Liz blush, her cheeks flushed, and she looks down at the pans smiling.

“Well you are too kind.” She mumbles, and then clears her throat, “Ok, time to plate up, prepare for the most underwhelming pancakes ever!”

They sat and ate, not talking much, as Liz thinks about the day ahead and Ty, well he nurses his hangover. His face doesn’t hurt as much and, Liz tells him his nose and eyes don’t look as swollen.

“So um, how did you get into the situation where you were beat up by two guys? Did you just turn down the wrong alley?” Liz questions, and takes a drink from her tea.

“Heh, yeah that’s the question” Ty, scratches the back of his head again, nervous habit, and lets out a sigh, “So ugh, when I get drunk, I.. I get strangers to beat me up.” Liz almost spits out her tea; what?!

“Uh oh ok? Why on earth would you do that?!” Ty lets out a sigh, and again tries to find the right words – and the courage to tell the truth.

“It makes me feel something.” He finally settles on, and the penny drops for Liz, who puts her tea down and places her hand on Ty’s leg, it was instinctive, and she quickly puts it lower down to his knee in embarrassment.

“Oh Ty, I’m so sorry. It’s shit. I know. I suffer really badly with depression and anxiety, I take medication, and I try my best, but life often feels like an uphill battle. It’s only the odd good day that makes it feel worth it, you know?” Ty looked shocked at this revelation; eyes wide in bewilderment.

“Really? But like, this place is amazing? And you seem so put together? Its 8 o’clock on a Saturday and you’re making breakfast like a domestic goddess!” Ty cringed at the last thing he said, but it was worth it for the blush that again appeared on Liz’s face.

“Gosh, ok. So, I’m a statistician, I work for a company called Trade-Compare. I basically streamline their products and system, by taking the data and figuring out the optimal way of doing things. It pays well, I get to live in the US in this fancy pants apartment, and I function. Honestly Ty, I function. I need to wake up at 6:30 nearly every day otherwise I break. If I’m not busy I feel useless. Hell, even helping you I got from that desire to be needed, and to feel worthy. Fuck it’s tough.”

It was now Ty, taking hold of Liz’s hand that was still resting on his knee, and held it between both his hands. He smiled and nodded, she was teary eyed, and he felt a deep understanding.

“Well if its anything, I think you’re worthy. I mean, maths? As a job? Crazy!” He joked and Liz let out a snotty snort.

“Yeah I get told that, and yeah its tough, but I get paid well and I have weekends off. I do boxing and some mixed martial arts training to let out the stress, and to let my brain go elsewhere other than my own thoughts.” Liz found herself putting her other hand around Ty’s and holding them, it felt ~intimate~ and she tried to throw that thought out of her head.

“Hence how you saved my life!” Ty responded and squeezed her hands before letting them go. “I got saved by a badass maths lady who fights depression by day and muggers by night!” Liz let out a proper laugh this time, as her tumble dryer played the little jingle to say it was done.

“Ok, clothes!” she just about pulled them out of the dryer before Ty’s phone began to ring.

“Yeah hey Steve, oh thank fuck I thought I lost it! No no I’m ok. Yeah I’m fine. I am at a friend’s apartment. Yeah yeah. Oh just a thing, what’s the hotel we’re staying at called? The Pennington? Ok thanks, yeah I forgot. Yeah no I just got a bit too drunk, phone died you know? Yeah no I’m fine, I’ll be at the hotel in a bit. Ok see ya, yeah bye!” Ty hung up and turned to Liz, who was folding his clothes neatly on the countertop.

“So The Pennington? That’s just around the corner, do you want me to walk you there or do you want to use googlemaps?” Liz asked, as she started putting the pans and plates into her dishwasher; it was two drawers instead of one big one, so she can do smaller loads when it’s just her cooking.

“Um could you walk me there? I know I could get there fine, but like I dunno, could you?” Liz thought Ty looked nervous as he asked this and she didn’t understand why, but nodded.

“Of course, I’ll go get dressed.” She smiled, still thinking about the fact that Tyson called her his friend on the phone to his mate. She almost skipped to her bedroom; feeling slightly like a teenager as she felt overly pleased at being able to call Ty a friend.

Tyson quickly got dressed, and spent a second too long sniffing his clean clothes, for Liz’s detergent smelt really nice. He could ask her where she got it, but that would be weird. He folded her sweats as neatly as he could and placed them on the wooden counter. It seemed like everything in Liz’s flat seemed so tidy, so in it’s place, he felt messy just being there. Which was weird because despite the pristine stone floor, nicely dust-free tv facing the sofa that was a mess – oh wait he should probably strip the bed.

He began to take the pretty white bed sheet off the bed as Liz entered the room. She had braided her hair back away from her face, and she wore mid blue straight-leg jeans, and a white linen shirt with the front tucked in and vans.

“Oh gosh, don’t worry about that, you’re a guest it’s fine!” Liz said as she saw Ty stripping the sofa bed. He did end up helping her finish putting it all away and putting the sheets on a wash.

“Okey dokey, ready to go?” Liz asked, and grabbed her brown handbag and navy coat.

“Yep, think I’ve got everything.” Tyson looked around for one last check before smiling at Liz, “again thank you for all of this-” Liz waved her hand and walked out the door talking over him.

“La la la! Not listening!” Ty laughed and she grinned as she locked her door. “Oh, by the way, this morning I looked you up!” She said and he looked confused for a second. “As in, I was like, ‘ok is this guy really a prowrestler or is that a lie?’ so I looked you up and I found out your stage name! Kenny Omega” She smiled at him and he nodded.

“Yep, and like we tend to call it ‘Ring name’ rather than ‘Stage name’ as that sounds like I’m a stripper!” He laughed.

“Tomayto Tomahto?” Liz laughed and Ty reached over and tickled her side. ‘Oh’ she thought ‘we are acting like flirting teenagers’, before Liz took that thought and pushed it deep deep down, so she never gave herself hope ever again. She knew Tyson a) would never think of her that way and b) will never see her again after this.

They walked to The Pennington together and as they got inside the man at the front desk welcomed Ty towards him. The man had dark hair and dark eyes, he had no beard and looked fairly young.

“Yes Sir, I have your wallet and your key card, your friend left it for you last night.” The man’s name badge said ‘Chris’ and Ty recognised him.

“Ah fantastic, thank you, can you remind me what room I’m in, I got a bit too drunk last night and don’t remember much.” Tyson joked and the clerk smiled.

“I see that,” he said gesturing to Ty’s face, “you were in room 108, we do have a first aider here if you need your dressing changed?” The clerk offered but Ty turned it down.

“I’m good but thank you Sir.” Ty replied and led Liz to the lift. As he stood inside, he turned to her. “So what do I owe you? Anything for last night, you were truly a lifesaver.” Liz smiled and waved her hand in dismissal again.

“Nothing..” then she pondered, “except, if you are back in the city again and you’re in trouble, call me ok?” Ty nodded before taking his phone out.

“Ok, put your number in, I promise I will ring you if I’m back here again.” Liz put her number in and tried not to think about the silly ideas that her brain came up with, to go with giving him her number.

They stood in silence as the lift went up, and suddenly Liz realised that she wasn’t really needed anymore, why was she even here, she could have dropped him off outside. Her heart began to beat faster, and she started to panic, should she leave? Should she say goodbye now? He must be thinking about how to get rid of her. She felt the beginning of a panic attack settle in when the doors of the lift pinged open, and she was face-to-face with another big muscly man. This time he had shoulder length hair that was golden, and he was taller than Tyson and was wearing plaid and boots.

“Tyson, mate what happened?” He let them both leave the lift and reached to Ty’s face. “You didn’t get hit again? Why does it always happen to you when you’re drunk?” He asked, clearly concerned for his friend. He then turned to Liz, who was startled out of her thoughts of panic and didn’t really know what to do. “Hi, you must be Tyson’s friend? I’m Stephen, nice to meet you.” He reached out a huge hand and Liz took it, remembering her mum’s best friend’s advice of ‘always give a firm handshake’.

“Hi, um yeah I’m Liz nice to meet you.” She smiled and looked between them, seeing her opening to leave. “Well, he’s safe now, no more falling over and hitting your head ok Ty?” she turned to Tyson he looked both sad and relieved.

“Yeah I won’t, I’ll be careful I promise.” He said before leaning in and pulling her into a hug. Liz did not expect this at all and felt her face go completely flushed and felt so flustered as he held her for longer than she would normally hug someone she had just met. ‘Oh’ she thought ‘he’s pretending we’re old friends!’ So she hugged him right back, and as they pulled apart she put her hand to his face. ‘Affection between old friends is important’ she thought and smiled at him.

“You take care, and I’ll make sure to give my mum that hug from you.” Ty looked confused for a second and then he picked up what Liz was putting down.

“Thank you, I miss her apple pies!” He then leaned down to kiss her cheek, before whispering a quiet ‘thank you’ in her ear. If Liz could have gotten any more red, she would have.

“Okay, nice to meet you Stephen, see you soon Ty. Take care!” She said and turned back to the lift, pressed the button, luckily there was no awkward waiting as the lift was still there, and she stepped inside and waved goodbye as the doors closed.

Ty let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and turned to Steve.

“Thanks for holding onto my wallet for me, I probably would have lost it – I broke my phone when I fell over and everything!” He showed his friend the phone, who was looking perplexed.

“You never told me you had any friends here! Let alone really hot ones who you obviously like!” He was looking at Tyson with a look of completely bemusement.

“Ok firstly, she’s an old friend, I forgot she lived here. Secondly she is not interested in that whatsoever, so it doesn’t matter what I like” Ty responded and turned to walk to down the corridor towards room 108.

“Yeah but you haven’t liked _anyone_ since I’ve met you. And now suddenly there’s this really hot British woman, whose mum you know?! Like this is vital information to tell your friends when we talk about your love-life, especially when the boys rag on you about it.” Stephen stopped and turned to his friend, “Oh the reason you don’t mention it, is because you don’t want us to make fun of you for it?”

Tyson turned to Stephen and nodded.

“Ok, I’m gonna go back, and then head to the airport, I’ll see you back in Jacksonville?” Tyson asked, and Stephen nodded.

“Yeah sure. Alright mate, as long as you’re ok?”

“I am, no need to worry.” Tyson turned to his friend and clapped him on the shoulder before heading into his hotel room.


	3. Meeting Again

Life didn’t really change for Liz; she carried on her organised life, keeping to her standards and spending most of her time working. She followed Kenny Omega’s Instagram and got a message back from Ty, who sent her his private Instagram for her to follow. She did so. Most of his pictures seemed like progress pictures for his fitness, of which she made a rule to only look at each one for five seconds, otherwise she was being a creep. He followed her back and actively liked everything she posted.

Her Instagram was mostly about her fitness and food too. She used to be over 260lbs, where she had been overweight her entire life. Once she moved to the US, she began to relearn food and unlearn her bad habits. Now she loved fitness and was really proud of her progress, she had abs that she was so proud of, and she could lift heavy, and in general, her weight and fitness was something she felt was a huge achievement for her.

She hadn’t told Ty that of course, but he must have seen her “transformation” pictures on her page.

It was one night that she was sat reading over work; her boss had sent her last months sales and wanted her to figure out who did the best and who did the worst – it was all perspective, based on who had been there longer and should know better, who had the tougher areas, etc – yes it was out of her working hours but her boss would pay her for it, he was good like that. As she started running some tests, her phone starting ringing, a number not in her contacts.

She thought for a second and then thought ‘what the heck, why not?’ before answering.

“Hello”

“Hi, heeeyyy, yes I think its you yes Liz?” The voice was slurring and Liz wasn’t sure but she thought it sounded a bit like Ty, it had been months since she’d seen him.

“Hey yes it is, is it you Tyson?” Liz frantically put her laptop down as well as her glass of wine.

“Yeesss. Oh Liz I love your voice, you sound so pretty.. I missed you. I’m back in town, and I’m drunk and I neeeedd youuuu” Yep Tyson sounded very drunk.

“Ok darling, right, where are you?” Liz got up and started putting on her coat.

“I’m round the corner, like by the pub near your flat,” Liz sighed, for there was loads of pubs near her flat, but then came another voice, further away.

_“Hey! Stop looking at my girl like that!”_ followed by Tyson spluttering.

“I’m not I promise!” Before what sounded like a punch. Liz knew that sound and rushed out of the house, in her sweatpants, no bra, keys in her hand and headed down the steps of her apartment as fast as she good.

“Hey hey Tyson, darling tell me what you see. Describe where you’re at.” Liz tried not to sound frantic, but heard more sounds of punches, and she thinks, kicks.

“Shop called Savers” Tyson muttered out, and Liz knew where he was. He was just round the corner, and as she turned she saw him on the floor, a man leaning over him whilst being held back by a woman.

“Hey!” Liz shouted, and the onlookers and the pair turned to face her. She ran to Tyson’s side and turned to the man. “I am so sorry, I promise you he wasn’t meaning to look at your girl, he’s just stupid and drunk. I am going to take him home, I promise you he didn’t mean anything by it.” The man seemed satisfied with the answer and backed away.

“Liz, hey, you saved me again.” Ty was smiling with a bloodied lip and Liz shook her head in fondness at him.

“You promised me you wouldn’t try to get punched when you were drunk anymore”

“I did, I promise it was a misunderstanding” he replied and with those puppy dog eyes, Liz couldn’t even pretend to be annoyed. Instead she helped him to his feet, and they walked back to her apartment, with Ty muttering things about how wonderful Liz was, how she was his angel. It was stuff that Liz tried her best to take with a huge pinch of salt and kept pushing down that stupid niggling thought of hope that came to her, whenever he was nice to her.

Whenever Ty commented nice things on her pictures, or told her he was thinking of her, she pushed the stupid feelings down, and seeing him here, holding onto her like she was air and he was struggling to breathe; it made it hard for Liz to breathe.

“Almost there Ty, almost home.” Liz soothed her friend, who continued to mumble things quite incoherently.

Liz helped Ty onto one of the barstools in her kitchen, and then frantically moved things out of the way to begin making the sofa-bed up.

“I feel sick” Ty mumbled, looking quite childlike in his honesty.

“Ok darling” Liz responded before helping him to the loo.

“Stay here until you stop feeling sick, ok? Be sick in the toilet, and I’ll be back in a minute ok?” Liz found herself talking to Ty like she had done for many years for her drunk friends. Too many times being the sober friend.

Liz rushed back to the sofa and made the bed up, getting the bedding from the cupboard with the boiler in it and then putting the coffee table next to it, like a bedside table. On it she placed a bowl, for Ty to be sick in, some water and some painkillers.

She was about to turn back around to get Ty when she heard throwing up from the toilet. Nice.

She walked into the bathroom and rubbed his back, moved his hair from his face and just tried her best to make the moment as pleasant as it could be for him.

After throwing up, Ty turned to Liz and smiled a small smile before reaching for the sink to wash his mouth. Liz put the toilet lid down and flushed it, before getting out a toothbrush for Ty.

It took a few times of brushing his teeth for Ty to not taste the vomit in his mouth, and when he was done he turned to Liz and pulled her into a hug. He knew he probably smelt bad; like sweat, vomit and alcohol, but he missed her so much.

“Hey, you feeling better now?” Liz asked and reached up to cup his face; she looked at his bloodied lip and saw it wasn’t so bad.

“Yeah, could do with a shower though” Ty admitted and smiled sheepishly.

“I’ll go grab your sweats.” Liz went to go but Ty grabbed her hand.

“What would I do without you?”

“Crash and burn.”

A few moments later Liz returned to the bathroom with the sweats, she knocked and walked in to see Ty in his boxers.

“Oh shit sorry!” Liz exclaimed. She turned away, closed her eyes and reached her arm back to offer him the sweats.

“Oh its ok, you don’t need to close your eyes, you’ve seen me in less in my Instagram pictures!” Ty laughed, whilst Liz felt awful.

“Yeah I know..” she trailed off, “Ok, enjoy your shower!” she called and quickly left, shutting the door behind her.

Liz was embarrassed and felt guilty and awkward and kind of wanted to just admit to him her feelings, so he can stop being so damn nice to her! She thought about making him a sandwich, but decided that he probably will feel sick, and if he does want one, she can make him one then. After a bit of debating, she decided to put her pjs on and start looking for one of her old big t-shirts that he could wear.

“Hey” came a voice from her bedroom doorway. Liz startled and turned around to see Ty, topless in all of his far too attractive glory, leaning against the wall in an effortlessly sexy pose and Liz felt gross even thinking that.

“Hey” she managed to get out, “I’m looking for one of my old big t-shirts to give you” She explained her rather frazzled looking state and untidy room. Her wooden chest of drawers were pulled open, and so was her cupboard, and she had been bent over looking through some of the storage under her bed.

“Oh it doesn’t matter, I like to sleep shirtless.” Ty replied and smiled at her.

“Oh ok..” Liz stopped what she was doing, and awkwardly tried to put the storage back under her bed without bending over, because these pjs were a little short.

“Need help?” Ty asked, and Liz nodded. He knelt down to push them back under her bed, whilst Liz shut her drawers and the wardrobe.

“Thanks, um, so your bed.” Liz began, before leading Ty back to the kitchen/living room. “You’ve got some aspirin, and water, and a sick bowl, but I dunno if you’ll need that.”

Ty let out a breath and again pushed down those thoughts of ‘kiss her!’, she was just so kind, so so kind and thoughtful and he smiled so fondly at her.

“Thank you, Liz. Want to watch some films? It’s only eleven.” Ty pointed out, holding his breath; watching films sat on the pull-out bed, meant cuddling and holding Liz.

“Sure! Ok so I’ve been meaning watching some Sword Art Online, we could watch a few episodes if you want? Or I’ve just bought Rogue One?” Liz looked excited Ty thought, and smiled.

“Well if I watch SAO, I will give you spoilers, so shall we watch Rogue One?” Ty reasoned and Liz nodded excitedly.

“Ok I’ll just make myself a cup of tea, put the TV on, there’s the remote.” Liz pointed to the remote and went over to the kitchen section of the room. She boiled the kettle and made some tea, and popped some popcorn in the microwave.

Liz got into the bed, passing the popcorn to Ty, and tried to sit with enough space between the two. She was worried about being a creep especially given that Ty seemed still drunk. They watched the film, talking a few times about Star Wars lore and other things that popped into their head. Ty ended up eating nearly all of the popcorn, and the two ended up sliding closer together so that they were thigh against thigh.

Liz hadn’t noticed until Ty rested his head on her shoulder, as the two characters on the screen ended in a cosy position too.

“They have such a nice friendship” Liz blurted out, thinking that if the comparison was in Ty’s head, he’d realise that she wasn’t thinking anything romantic.

“Yeah, but I like to think they liked each other romantically too” Ty responded, and lifted his head to look at Liz. Liz looked away, back at her tea.

“Yeah I guess, but it’s nice that it’s open to interpretation.” Liz concluded and finished her now cold cup of tea. “Ok, it’s time for bed now.” She turned to Ty expectedly and he nodded before wrapping both of his arms around her and oh my god what? That was not what she expected. Ok, oh he must be saying goodnight? “Goodnight” she said, and awkwardly pat his head. He didn’t move. Maybe he fell asleep?

“Come on, cuddle up” Ty finally said snuggling down into the pillows. Liz was trapped. Ok am I being rude if I say no? Especially when he’s drunk and it’s clearly a platonic, kind of adorable sentiment? Or is it absolutely creepy given my current feelings for him? A good friend would tell him how they feel, but Liz was too scared. Plus, she doesn’t see him often enough for it to be an issue. She gets a lovely friendship, and awkward situations like this don’t happen much. Except this is happening. Make a decision Liz.

So, she gave in. Gave in to her stupid bloody feelings and the request of the guy she liked and snuggled up.

“You better not snore” She told him before turning on her side away from him. She heard a laugh.

“Well you better not either” He responded, and she heard him turn over too. Good.

Liz had finally begun to calm down a little and even began to think that maybe she could fall asleep after all, when an arm wrapped its way around her waist. Ok breathe Liz and pretend to be asleep.

If Ty wants some platonic cuddling that is completely fine, but Liz will not do it back. She will stay a sleeping statue, so she doesn’t do something stupid like turn around and kiss- no we are not even going there.

“Goodnight,” she heard him whisper, from right behind her, like his mouth was by her ear, and once again Liz held herself still and kept her eyes closed as she tried to go to sleep. Gradually the warmth of Ty against her, went from terrifying to calming, and she did manage to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi thanks for reading, please leave any constructive criticism you have, as well as where you want this story to go next. Many thanks <3


	4. That Wrestling Show

Liz woke up before her alarm for once, feeling around for her phone on the coffee table, she checked the time; 7 o’clock. She quickly turned the alarm off before it even rung and laid back into where she was being cuddled. It seemed that neither of them had moved; no wonder Liz’s arm was dead from having been laid on the whole night. She started to scroll through Instagram, when she felt something warm and firm pressed up against her. Her realisation was immediate, especially given Ty was spooning her.

Ok time to get out of this situation. She, as quietly and quickly as she could, got out of the bed and turned around to see Ty fast asleep. Oh, thank god.

Liz let out a breath and took a shower.

After the shower, she got dressed and made breakfast. Ty was still fast asleep, so she quietly cooked up some eggs on rye toast and then some protein smoothies. It was a Sunday and normally Liz would go to the gym fairly early and then have a protein smoothie. She imagined today wouldn’t be one of those days.

Ty woke up to the smell of coffee, and straight away remembered where he was. The smell of the white bedsheets, the sound of quiet singing and the feeling of a hangover; ah yes he had crashed at Liz’s place. He quickly recalled the night before, how he had made a tit of himself once again, and how Liz had saved the day, once again. How they’d cuddled, and how good she felt laying next to him. He liked the smell of her hair, he decided.

“Good morning!” Liz called to him, and Ty smiled at her.

“Good morning. Can I have coffee?” He responded and it made Liz laugh. He was pleased.

“Of course, how’s your head?” she responded, and he grabbed a cup of coffee.

They talked for a while and Ty didn’t know how to tell her what he was meaning to tell her. That he wanted them to be more than friends, and though it would be tough because of the distance, they could make it work. He didn’t know how to tell her, so he didn’t. Instead he offered for her to come and watch one of his shows. He is a Pro-Wrestler for AEW, and so he invited her to come to this Wednesday’s show. Liz seemed excited and told him she would double check with her boss that she could get the afternoon off, but other than that, she would be there. And so Ty and Liz spent the rest of the day chatting, and relaxing in Liz’s flat. They watched films and TV shows, and they both spent the entire time, trying their best to not let the other know, just how they felt.

It was the night of the wrestling show. Ty had gotten Liz a front row ticket and she sat there excitedly as the stadium begin to fill. She hadn’t seen Tyson yet, but that wasn’t the point. The point, Liz had to keep reminding herself, was that she was there to watch the show. Ty probably offered the ticket as a thank you for letting him crash at hers again.

She didn’t really know whether to text Ty to let him know she was there, or if he didn’t need to know that. She decided on a simple _“This is amazing, so excited to see the show – goodluck!”_. She hoped the text sounded like she didn’t have any expectations for seeing him at all, but purely kindness.

The person next to her was a young man, maybe late teenager who wore a “Kenny Omega” shirt. It made Liz smile.

“Nice shirt!” She complimented him, the man had brown hair, a beginning of a beard, brown eyes and light skin. He turned to her grinning, he seemed just as excited as she felt.

“Thanks, I love him. The man can pull 5-star matches out of his ass!” He replied and Liz laughed.

“Yeah he’s great! Only just got back into wrestling the past few months and I’m obsessed!” Liz replied and the guy grinned and nodded.

“Its hard not to. Like after being let down by WWE so many times, I watched AEW and was like ‘this is what wrestling is meant to be like!’ – watched every episode since!” Liz nodded, completely agreeing, and pleased that she wasn’t being berated for not being a “true indie fan”. “I’m Brandon by the way, nice to meet you!” He stuck out his hand and Liz shook it.

“Nice to meet you Brandon, I’m Liz.” He nodded and the two went back into comfortable silence as soon enough the seats all around them were full of fans ready to watch.

Liz had the best time. The matches had huge variety to them, there was funny moments and serious moments, scary moments and the wrestlers even came near her at some points, as they battled near the barriers. Tyson was to have his match last, as Liz was told by Brandon, and that was when Liz got nervous.

She hoped he wouldn’t see her. That he wouldn’t see her face staring at him the entire time. She decided to not push forward to the barrier as she had done for the rest of the wrestlers, and this time stood clapping, trying to be inconspicuous, as Kenny Omega’s music played.

There he was. It made her heart ache a little to see him; he looked so happy and confident and was utterly brilliant. He did a walk round the ring, smiling at fans, and then he did it. He looked her straight in the eye and grinned. As he got to her and Brandon, Liz found herself walking to the barrier for he’d seen her now, no need to hide.

“Good luck!” She shouted and Ty grinned again, and then leant across the barrier to give her a hug, whispering a “thank you” in her ear. Liz flushed red, felt sweaty and saw people looking at her.

“What was that?!” Brandon exclaimed as Liz remained still. She sat down and tried to calm her breathing. That must have been caught on camera? Maybe? “Uh Liz, are you ok?” It was Brandon again.

“Um. I’ve met him before; he must have remembered me.” She mumbled, before sliding down in her chair slightly, in complete embarrassment.

It wasn’t long, however, before Liz was fully immersed in the match. It was a tag-team match and Ty teamed with his friend Stephen, who performed as Hangman Adam Page. They were against the Best Friends, and it was a fast paced, enjoyable finisher for the show.

A little brawling went on, on the outside of the ring as the match came to its climax, and Ty had a spot where he was thrown against the barrier, just in front of Liz. She, and the other fans around her, were on their feet. People were shouting encouragement to Ty, and booing Chuck Taylor, who pulled Kenny Omega up by his hair so he was standing, leaning against the barrier. He was so close to Liz; she could touch him if she wanted (of which she obviously didn’t. Obviously).

Chuck Taylor was trash-talking Kenny, trash-talking the crowd and really heeling it up, and then the Hangman came up from behind him, and grabbed him, and he and Ty performed a double-team move to put him out of the match. They hugged, which popped the crowd and had everyone cheering, before Trent did a moonsault onto them, and got up to start trash-talking the crowd, as Chuck had.

Ty turned to Liz in that moment.

“Hold the railing steady for me.” He said to her, and she immediately complied – as did any of the fans who heard him – and he jumped up onto the barrier and did a flip off it on to an unsuspecting Trent. Ty then helped his teammate up, who was the legal man, and the Hangman performed a buckshot lariat in the ring to seal the deal, before pinning Trent for the 1, 2, 3.

The fans were cheering, Liz was grinning from ear to ear, and the Tag-Team champions celebrated in the ring. Hangman grabbed a beer from a fan and drank it, whilst Kenny thanked the crowd for their support.

After the show went off air, the guys got down from the ring. It seemed like Stephen just wanted to head off, but Ty turned to him and motioned he’d be there a minute, before turning towards Liz.

Liz’s face burned red as she saw him walk towards her. Unsure what to do, she just stood there.

“Hey, did you enjoy the show?” He asked her, whilst some of the fans around answered or just watched the situation in front of them unfold.

“Yeah! It was amazing, you were really, really good.” Liz responded, finally finding words.

“Do you need help climbing over?” Ty asked, reaching out a hand to her.

“Climbing over what?” She responded, dumbfounded.

“This!” He said, motioning to the guard rail in between them.

“Am I allowed?” She asked, and Ty rolled his eyes, putting his title in her arms, before reaching over and picking her up and over the railing. The fans around cheered, some making comments about Kenny getting lucky tonight, whilst others wolfwhistled. Liz again, wasn’t sure what was going on, but Tyson just took her hand in one of his, and his belt in the other and led her past the ring and up onto the stage.

Stephen laughed and reached out to give Liz a side-hug, and they walked her backstage.

Once backstage, Liz got a whistle-stop tour of the set-up, met some crew and got led around by Ty, who hadn’t let go of her hand yet.

“Oh hey Brandi, hi” Ty called over to Brandi Rhodes, of whom Liz was a big fan of; a woman of colour in power, was breaking boundaries and glass ceilings, and Liz couldn’t believe it, as she stood there being introduced to a woman, she may or may not have a little crush on.

“Oh hi Kenny, this must be Liz! Nice to meet you, your boy here has told us all about you.” Brandi smiled and reached out a hand for Liz to shake. Liz quickly wiped the sweat off her free hand and shook the hand of the chief brand officer, and all-round badass woman.

“Hi, nice to meet you. The show was amazing.” Liz complemented Brandi, who smiled and put a hand on Ty’s arm.

“Well that is a team effort, from everyone here. Everyone works hard to make this the best it can possibly be.” Brandi turned to Ty as she said that and smiled.

“Well, you’ve all done amazingly.” Liz replied and smiled at both of the very attractive people in front of her.

“Thank you, now sorry to be a dick, but I’ve got to run, there’s been an issue. We had predicted a certain number of sales of merch and yet we’ve run out of stock, so I’ve got to go sort it!” Brandi quickly turned to both of them, “nice to see you both happy.” She said, before rushing off with someone Liz imagined was her assistant.

“Oh gosh she is just as stunning in real life.” Liz absentmindedly said, to no one in particular.

“That she is” came a voice from behind them.

Liz turned to see Cody Rhodes standing there. Ah yes, another attractive person, to make Liz feel like a potato in jeans.

“You must be Liz, nice to meet you” and Cody stuck out his hand and Liz shook it.

“Nice to meet you too Sir, congrats on the great show.” Liz replied and Cody grinned.

“Oh, please don’t call me sir, you’re a friend of our boy Kenny, so you’re a friend of AEW. Plus, from the way Ty describes it, you saved his life, twice. So, for that, I am personally grateful.” Cody was smiling at both of them, and Liz felt like an imposter; had she really saved Ty’s life? She had helped him when he needed her, but the way he said it made her felt guilty.

“Oh gosh, no Ty is completely overdoing it there, I merely was there to help him out. But thank you, everyone has been really nice here. I didn’t expect to be let backstage!” Liz tried her best to be respectful but also make sure that Cody knew she wasn’t important. She felt Ty’s hand snake across her back, and held her waist, she turned to him, grateful.

“I see, you’re just as good at taking compliments as Kenny is. Well, it seems you are a good fit for each other. Anyway, things to do, lovely to meet you!” Cody shook Liz’s hand again before darting off after his wife.

Liz turned to Ty who told her he needed to shower up and change, and for her to wait for him. He’d only be a few minutes.

It was a minute or so in before, out of the corner of her eye, Liz spotted someone she knew.

“Chris! Is that you?” Liz called out, and her old work colleague turned to face her.

“Elizabeth James, what a surprise! What are you doing here?” Chris Robbins was Liz’s old boss; she had worked for him at Trade-Compare when she first got offered the job there. He was a brilliant mathematician but didn’t like the company. The last time they spoke, he had started his own trading company and was doing really.

“Oh, I knew it was you!” Liz walked over to her old friend, “I’m here seeing a friend, he’s one of the wrestlers and invited me along! What are you doing here?” Before Chris could answer, the door in front of them opened and out walked a young man, of whom turned to Chris with a smile.

“Chris! Nice to see you, glad you could make it” The two men shook hands and Chris turned to Liz.

“Tony, lovely to see you again, I want to introduce Liz, she is – except for me of course – the best statistician I know.” Chris motioned to a stunned Liz. Wow she wasn’t expecting such high praise.

“Really? Lovely to meet you Liz, I’m Tony Khan.” He stuck out his hand and Liz shook it, still in shock at what Chris had said about her.

“Nice to meet you Sir, I believe you’re the owner of AEW, am I correct?” Liz smoothed over, business talk, she can do business talk.

“That is correct, and what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was invited by one of the wrestlers, Ty? Kenny Omega? He gave me a tour, and is now having a shower after his match.” Liz smiled, and Tony’s eyes lit up for a second with recognition.

“Yes, I remember he did ask if he could; how did you enjoy the show?”

“It was great Sir, you should be proud of this company, it puts out great shows every week.” Business smoothing, la de dah, oh how she hoped Ty would return soon.

“I’m glad you liked it. Now Chris, we should really have that chat about optimising data. Sorry to cut this short Liz.” He turned to Chris, who nodded.

“Ok, see you soon Elizabeth, take care of yourself.”

“Will do, see you soon.” Liz smiled as the two walked into the office and shut the door.

She began to walk back to where Ty had left her, when she almost walked into him.

“Hey, thanks for waiting, hope you weren’t too bored.” Ty smiled and Liz had to stop herself from feeling mushy; why oh why does he have to be so beautiful?

“No problem, no it’s fine. Weirdly, I just bumped into an old colleague of mine; he’s now having a meeting with Tony Khan.” Liz smiled atTy who looked interested.

“Really? That’s strange; small world isn’t it?” Ty put his arm over Liz’s shoulder, and they started walking, Liz didn’t know where, but she didn’t mind.

“Yeah it really is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Had a lot of fun writing this one - let my wrestling geekery play out! Please leave some constructive criticism and let me know what you want them to do next!


	5. The Hotel Room

They ended up walking to Ty’s car, a pick-up truck that Liz instantly fell in love with and told him so. He blushed a little at the comment, and they drove to the hotel they had booked in with.

Ty had told Liz he was staying there and that she should too, so that night she booked a room, it was fairly expensive but it was a nice treat for her, and she had managed to wrangle the Thursday off work too, so she could get back home in her leisure.

As they got to the desk, Ty took the lead and asked for the keys to the room under his name, the lady gave him his key. When he asked for another one for Liz, she stopped him.

“Oh, don’t worry about, I’m only down the hall see?” She showed him her key with the number 52 on it, whilst his was 56, “Come on, this hotel is lovely!” She thanked the receptionist and began to show Ty around, but Ty didn’t move.

“Hey what’s wrong?” Liz asked, suddenly very concerned, she hadn’t seen him look so worried, ever.

“Nothing, I just. I’m confused.” He looked really upset and Liz didn’t know what to do.

The problem was that Ty had thought they were going to share a room; when he said that she should join him, he meant that they’d share a hotel room. He had even got one with two double beds, so not to make Liz feel uncomfortable. Now here she was, having had already checked in – because of course she had, she didn’t have any bags with her! And she looked so confused.

“What are you confused about?” Liz tilted her head to Ty, and he felt a lump in his throat; this is stupid to get upset about.

“Nothing, I just… I thought we were going to be sharing a hotel room, hence why I asked for the second key. And I feel stupid now, I just thought it would have been nice. That I could treat you to a bed and breakfast for once.” Ty swallowed the lump down and shook his head. “I’m sorry, we must have had a miscommunication, doesn’t matter.” He began to walk towards the lift, but Liz stopped him.

“Excuse me!” she called to the receptionist. “We’ve been rather silly here,” she pulled Tyson’s arm as she walked towards the desk, “we both bought rooms, and thought the other hadn’t, is there a way that we could get a refund on one?” Tyson sucked in a breath, this is not what he thought she’d do.

“Um, sort of, I can refund yours Mr Smith, because you haven’t used the room yet, but unfortunately not yours Miss James as you have already used your room today.” The receptionist looked down at her computer, “Is that ok?”

“Yes of course, could we get another key for the room we’re staying in then?”

“Of course.” The lady tapped away, and Ty handed over his 56 key. He looked down at Liz, who had her hands on the desk peaking over, she was kind of cute like this. Normally she was this big boss lady who has everything together; scary and sophisticated. This way, she looks cute, anxiously waiting for the receptionist to do her job. Liz had worn her hair down for the show and Ty loved it. He loved her long strawberry blonde curls. She had taken his breath away when he saw her in the crowd, standing there wearing one of his t-shirts. He was so proud to introduce her to everyone, and everyone seemed to like her. It was worth the ribbing he got from the boys, talking about how he should ‘make a move’ on her. Nah not gonna risk losing this. “Ok, please sign this here Mr Smith and here’s another key for 52, thank you, enjoy your stay.”

Ty grinned and took his luggage in one hand and Liz’s in the other, and she smiled back, leading him to the elevator.

They headed into the hotel room, and as soon as Ty had shut the door Liz realised a couple of issues with the situation. So given Ty’s adorable sad face when he spoke about sharing a room, Liz had forgotten about a couple of things.

  1. There was only one bed in the room.
  2. She had not brought any pyjamas.
  3. In her rush to get dressed for the wrestling, she had flung her clothes everywhere and specifically her underwear was hanging out of the suitcase, in stupid lacy fashion.



“Oh sorry, I got dressed in a hurry” Liz apologised and quickly tried to stuff the clothes into her suitcase as quickly as possible. Ty laughed.

“What you don’t need to be embarrassed about being messy, you have yet to see my apartment!” He replied and flopped onto the double bed. “So I say, room service, then movies in bed.” He turned to Liz who had finished her flapping about and nodded.

“Sounds great to me, here’s the menu.” She passed him the folded card on the table, it was only a small room service menu – the best of which was pizza.

So, they ordered their pizza and sat on the little couch together stuffing their faces.

It was then that Liz had to face the two biggest problems. The pj situation and the one bed situation. After last time and having a certain situation happen in the morning, she wasn’t sure what to do. She knew the right thing to do. That would be to tell Tyson her feelings, apologise for making him uncomfortable and promptly never speaking to him again. It was the last bit that made the whole idea impossible. This friendship, the way they just _got_ each-other; well, Liz didn’t ever want to lose that.

So, she opted to do the next best thing and lock herself in the bathroom until she could figure out what to do.

What if she makes a joke out of it? Say, whoops I’ve forgotten my pjs, do you feel ok with me just wearing my t-shirt and panties. Ugh she hated the word panties. It was knickers back home in the UK. Much better. What if she sleeps in her jeans? Or explain, and say that is why she is wearing her jeans to bed? That seemed the best option. And, for the whole accidental boner situation, she can say she is too warm to cuddle. Two birds, one stone. Let’s go!

Liz walked out of the bathroom to see Ty in his boxers standing next to the bed, he seemed to be sorting out the laptop, but Liz quickly looked away.

“Oh gosh sorry, didn’t realise you were changing!” She exclaimed and faced the wall. She heard Ty laugh.

“Oh no, I normally sleep in my boxers, so don’t worry. Plus, you follow my Instagram, I tend to take all of my progress pictures in them too. I’m not shy.” Liz screamed internally.

Yes, you’re not shy. But someone here has a stupid bloody crush. And stupid feelings that ruin great friendships.

“Oh ok, um I’ll just have to..” She turned back around to face him and decidedly stared at his face. No lower than the face. “So um, I have a problem. I tend not to wear pjs when I’m by myself, and because I didn’t think we’d share a room, I didn’t bring any. So, before you ask why I’m being a weirdo wearing my jeans to bed, that is why.” Liz tried to laugh at the joke by Ty just looked confused. She walked round to her side of the bed and did the trick thing to take off her bra without her top, tried to put it in her suitcase without Ty seeing, and then took off her socks before getting into bed. Ok Liz, you can do this. “So what film do you want to watch?” She turned to Ty who was still in the same place, and oh fuck Liz looked at his ass. She mentally kicked herself, before looking down at her hands. She was already feeling too warm; stupid jeans.

“I’m confused.” Ty started, finally turning back to Liz.

“Well last time, I kind of picked Rogue One, so really it’s-”

“No, I mean the jeans thing.” Ty cut her off and Liz felt her cheeks go warm.

“So, you know, you don’t have to see my” Liz gestured to her lower body, trying with all her might, to psychically make Ty understand.

“I mean, we’re friends. I’m stood here in my boxers, I don’t understand why you feel uncomfortable? Do you think I’d do something inappropriate? Or are you self-conscious of your legs? They’re great, I wouldn’t be, I’ve seen you squat on Instagram, your quads are great.” Ty seemed really confused and Liz felt more flustered and quickly shoved down the silly hope feeling, he was being kind. He felt sorry for her.

“I mean, you know, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable-”

“I wouldn’t”

“Ok.”

Liz got back out of bed and quickly, without any eye-contact, took her jeans off and put them on top of her suitcase. She then rushed back into bed and pulled the covers over her.

“So, film?” She turned to Ty who looked bewildered but nodded and got into bed also.

Ty chose “A New Hope”, of which killed Liz inside, because hope is what’s causing her to feel her heart ache every time Ty said something nice. This whole “being friends in person” thing, was getting tough. She was kind of looking forward to things going back to normal. Except there Ty was, making her laugh until she snorted about his reasoning why Jaja Binks should be in all of the films and that he was more evil than the Emperor. Ugh, feelings.

When the film finished, Ty turned to Liz, who had leant on his shoulder as the film was reaching its end. She must be tired.

“Hey,” Ty mumbled, and ran his fingers through Liz’s hair. “I think we should sleep.” It was then when Liz jumped, having been asleep for a good 20 minutes.

“Oh gosh, sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. My bad.” She turned to him and smiled apologetically, but Ty didn’t care. Why would he? He gets to be close to Liz.

“It’s ok.” He stroked his fingers through her hair again, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful. Ty didn’t know how he got so lucky.

Liz felt that stupid hope in her chest once again and punched it down, one more day until she wouldn’t see him for a long time. It’ll be ok.

“We should probably sleep, I’ve gotta drive back to mine tomorrow and I want to catch up on work before Friday.” Liz said and turned to Ty, she put her arms around him and hugged him, “thank you for a lovely day” she mumbled, and as she pulled away she could see something different in Ty’s facial expression, she didn’t know what it meant. “Are you ok?” It was a second before Ty turned his face, and Liz felt uncomfortable; was a hug crossing a line? “You are ok with me giving you a hug right?”

“Oh yeah of course” he responded and Liz tilted her head, she wasn’t sure what to make of this whole thing, so she smiled and nodded and rolled slightly over onto her side, and edged slightly more onto her pillow and out of Ty’s space.

“Goodnight Tyson” she mumbled and felt a lump in her throat.

“Goodnight Liz” she heard him reply and with that she attempted to sleep.

Ty, on the other hand was laying right where he was, he was completely confused by this whole situation. Her breath against his ear as she thanked him, the look in her eye as she pulled away, the way her t-shirt was loose, and he caught a glimpse of her chest and then the moment disappeared. She seemed confused before just turning away? What does it mean?

He was pretty sure that there was a moment where she wanted him the way he wanted her in that moment. That, speaking plainly, they both wanted to have sex with each other. He didn’t want to be one of those guys who look too much into situations or is creepily thinking that a girl likes him back, but she did, he was almost certain.

Ty decided to initiate something, and if she doesn’t respond in kind, then she wasn’t interested.

He turned on his side and put an arm around Liz’s waist, no response, he edged closer, so his crotch was against her ass, no response, finally he pulled her slightly into his arms.

No response. He must be wrong. Ty pulled away slightly and then rolled back over onto his back.

So, it is unrequited then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the feeeeliiingggss. There's this strange thing about two people who are in love with each other but do not believe the other is, where they awkwardly excuse each other's attempts at being closer as friendship, but all the while getting increasingly closer and feeling the heart ache grow. Sadism? Maybe. Please leave some constructive criticism and have a lovely day.


	6. A New Job

Getting back to her normal life was strange for Liz. She missed Ty almost immediately after they parted. He had kissed her on the cheek and told her to call him whenever she wanted to. That hurt her heart, for she knew she couldn’t

Liz decided that she would actively fight against her feelings for Ty. Yes, she can find him attractive – who doesn’t? But that doesn’t mean she has to have feelings for him. That the L-word here is friendship love. It’s brother and sisterly love. He loves her like a sister, and she should like him the same way. And that him being attractive doesn’t mean she’s attracted to him.

She decided to stop looking at his Instagram pictures, but would just, once in a while, quickly click on his page like all of his recent pictures and then not look again. She’d FaceTime him once a fortnight in the early evening, not too late like last time where he was shirtless for the entire phone call. She also started trying to refer him as “like a brother” to herself when she thought of him and to her work colleagues who asked about the “hot wrestler” she knew. Ty and Liz had started playing video games together and often it would be over voice chat too, of which was fun and Liz a couple of times said aloud to him “you’re honestly my best friend, you’re like a brother to me.” Ty wouldn’t always respond to it and Liz thought it was weird, but maybe he didn’t see her as family yet, but that was fine, for he told her enough times that she was his best friend.

One day, a month or two since she had last seen Tyson, she got a phone call from Chris Robbins who told her about an amazing job opportunity in Florida. She’d be the head statistician, leading a small team in an up-and-coming company that he knew she’d love. Liz enjoyed her current job, though the hours could be difficult and the trading stuff, a little dull. But being able to be a statistician, to use her degree when all of her friends from university were doing something completely away from their degrees; it made her proud.

So she booked her flight and hotel and decided “why the fuck not?”.

Chris had been really vague about what the company was but gave her an address and interview time. She didn’t mind as Chris tended to always leave out stuff like that and the mystery made the whole thing more exciting. Liz didn’t really think much would come out of the interview anyway and considered the whole thing a fun, learning experience.

It was then, whilst she was sat on the plane reading the address that she smiled, it was in Jacksonville which was where the AEW Headquarters was. If she did take the job, she could see Tyson once in a while.

She got to the office and was directed by the receptionist to sit outside a certain office. That was when Liz got confused, weird coincidence that it had “Mr Khan” on the sign outside the office. In her moment of pondering, the door opened and the Tony Khan she met at the Dynamite show was stood in front of her.

“Liz! Lovely to see you again.” He greeted her, and Liz was so confused.

“Hi Sir. Sorry I’m so confused. You see Chris told me that I was having an interview but didn’t tell me with who and I didn’t expect it to be you.” She explained her shocked expression, and hurriedly got out of her seat to shake his hand.

“Yes, he tends to always be a bit loose with information, does Chris, but are you happy to have the interview now you know who it is with?” He responded, not seeming fazed by the whole situation.

“Of course, Mr Khan, very much so.”

The interview went well, really well. Tony seemed really interested in how Liz explained her current job. Optimising data was a phrase he liked a lot, and Liz enjoyed explaining how it can be used in all parts of the show.

From being able to see show ratings in the US to breaking that down to area, and within that who is performing when they’re watching. So then, even if they hadn’t been to that city before to perform, they can use the figures to estimate more accurately the amount of stock of their merchandise, even down to who’s merch it was. Also, social media, using social media to see what AEW fans liked the most, from in-ring performer to specific angles etc. She almost lost herself in what she was explaining, a couple of times but tried to not ramble on too much.

After the interview Tony offered her the job straight up, he gave her a starting wage offer and she almost cried. It was almost double of what she was earning currently.

She told Tony that she needed to double check things with moving and used the excuse of Visas and being British to not just signing the paperwork right there. He told her the offer stands for a month and she said she’d get back to him within the week. Her job would entail being in the office in Jacksonville most of the time, but travelling with the team for each Dynamite event every week. They’d reimburse hotels and food costs whilst travelling, (within certain rules) and she will have a yearly bonus too.

Liz’s main reasoning for not signing there and then was Ty. She knew she’d be able to get the Visa sorted; it was just changing an address and job title, and finding a new apartment was doable too. It was just whether Ty would feel comfortable with her being in his work environment. They’d unlikely see each other during the tapings, and if he didn’t want to see her outside of that whilst they travelled for the shows, that was ok. But to work for the same company; she thought she needed to put it passed him first.

That night she rang Ty; he was shirtless again and was lying in bed looking beautiful as ever.

“So yeah, I wanted to put it pass you first. I don’t want you to feel like I’m intruding too much into your work life, you know, AEW is your thing, and I don’t want to take that away from you.” I don’t want you to get bored of me.

“What? No! Intruding? That’s the best news! We get to see each other more often, like all the time! You could live with me in Florida if you want? I mean my main home is in Japan, as you know, but like I’ve got an apartment in Florida for most of the time at the moment. It’s got enough room and it’ll be amazing. Oh my god Liz this is incredible.” Ty’s response was not what Liz expected. Firstly, how excited he was, and secondly, the offer to live with him.

They talked for hours after that. Ty told her about the gym he went to and how she’d like it because it’s got really good weightlifiting sections and how they could workout together. He spoke about food, and how they could take it in turns cooking and they could play mariokart together and Liz went to sleep very happy that night.

Living with each other wasn’t always the picnic that they talked about; they had work and Ty was often away on different conferences and panels and things, so they weren’t always together. But it was pretty close.

Liz did most of the cooking, and Ty loved it. He was a decent cook but didn’t expect Liz to be as good as she was. The nutrition part of food; what had what nutrients and macros in and how much of each, was Ty’s domain. Whilst Liz took what he told her and created different dishes with it. Ty ate meat so Liz got better at cooking meat, and they got very comfortable around each other.

Originally, Liz had moved into the spare bedroom, with space for herself. Soon enough though, with the number of times they fell asleep in Ty’s bed watching some anime or films, Liz just ended up sleeping there.

She often thought about what would happen if Ty brought a girl home, but it hadn’t happened yet.

So, the spare room became an office for Liz, for she always spent more time working than she was needed to. It still had a sofa bed in the room, and Liz hoped desperately that she wouldn’t need to use it.

They’d get a hotel together, of which Ty got majorly teased for amongst his peers, and Liz learnt how to eat healthily whilst on the road.

Her workmates were nice; there was Laura who would work on merchandise and James who would work on social media. Which meant they both used the analytics of each of their domains, to advise the respective teams on what would be best to do next.

Liz oversaw all of that and loved it. She finally got something to stick her teeth into and really went for it. Within the first quarter of her working for AEW, their sales had skyrocketed further than anyone had predicted. Liz was so proud, and she had very much become the company favourite.

One day, Ty asked Liz whether she could be his sparring partner whilst his friend Stephen was away with his family, and Liz said yes. From then on it became a regular thing, where Liz would learn the way of the ropes and Ty was impressed with how quickly she improved. He’d tell Liz that, and she was roll her eyes and say he was being “too kind”.

Ty often got frustrated with how often Liz would say he was being “too kind”, when really, he was in love with her and was showing it. It was a knife in the heart every time, because it reminded him, how she only saw him as a friend and that hurt.


	7. What More Do They Need?

It was one Wednesday afternoon, as they were preparing for Dynamite when Liz got a message saying that Tony Khan wanted to speak to her. She got to the office and Ty and Stephen were there, waiting for her.

“So, Liz, I wanted to ask you, you and Kenny are close right?” Tony started, and Liz felt nervous.

“Yes, but I promise that does not mean I’m biased in my work, I promise you everything I report to you comes from the data and is not biased by my person relationships.” She answered, and Tony smiled.

“That wasn’t where I was going with this Liz, I wanted to ask you about performing tonight.” Tony said and Liz was shocked, “Tonight it’s booked that Kenny and Hangman are going to be defending their titles against the Santana and Ortiz, and we are planning on there being a beat down on Kenny, and Dr Britt Baker is going to join in. There we were wondering if you were ok with coming down to make the save. You do not need to throw any punches, or anything, just come down to the ring, be angry and concerned for Kenny and scare Britt off. Is that something you’re comfortable with?” Liz was conflicted; putting herself out there on screen opens her up to criticism, and she always preferred being behind the scenes, but it sounded fun. She turned to Ty.

“How do you feel about this Ty?” She asked and he looked excited.

“I think it’s gonna be great! I mean you’ve been my training partner for ages now and I know you hate me telling you this, but you’re a great performer. How many times have we gone to a karaoke bar and you’ve loved having the spotlight on you?!” Liz blushed, embarrassed that her boss now knows about her love for karaoke singing.

“Ok, as long as you’re alright with it, it should be fun.” Liz turned back to Tony, “I’ll do it.”

“Great, you go get ready and get someone to explain to you the timings of things.”

Liz left Tony’s office with Ty and Stephen, and they took her down to where the other wrestlers were. She had a chat with Britt, who seemed really excited by the idea; her joining the Inner Circle works really well with her character and it means that the Inner Circle has more chance of getting gold.

“Hey Ty, do you have any t-shirts of yours?” Liz asked Tyson, who had previously been stood watching Liz interact with his peers with a smile plastered on his face.

“I’m sure we can find one.”

“Ok dokey, I was thinking, I should probably make myself look more attractive. So, I get less ripped to shreds by Twitter tonight. I was thinking I could try and tie your shirt in a way to show off my hips I dunno. I am going to find someone who can help me look less like a potato.” Liz had already begun to turn away from Ty and then stopped, “I love you.” She told him, before quickly walking off towards where the make-up artists tended to be.

Ty rolled his eyes; of course, someone as beautiful as Liz thought she looked like a potato. He shook his head and turned to Stephen.

“People are going to think we’re dating, aren’t they?” He asked his friend.

“I’m pretty sure Tony thinks you do, and everyone but me and the Bucks already do.” Stephen clapped his hand on Ty’s shoulder, “To be honest, even though you tell me otherwise, I think you two are.” Stephen jumped down from the ledge he was sat down and headed to the locker room to get changed.

Liz turned to Sarah, and then back at the mirror that Sarah was holding in front of her.

“I dunno, I still feel like I look not attractive enough. I know people are going to think Kenny and I are together, and I don’t want him to look like he’s settling, more than he would anyway. Him being liked by the fans is so important to me, and I don’t want him to lose that because I look gross. That everyone thinks he’s dating some potato.” Liz sighed and Sarah rolled her eyes.

“I’ve told you three times hun, I do make-up for all of the wrestlers here that want it, and you are just as pretty as all of them. So please, stop worrying.” Sarah, set the mirror down and begun to sort out her kit for the next person who needed their make-up doing.

“Liz! I found some stuff that might fit you, one of the girls is the same size shoes as you, and was willing for you to borrow these boots, and these are someone else’s jeans who aren’t using them, and should fit you. That with the top all done up like that, you should be smokin’!” Liz turned around to Britt who took a double take. “Oh my god Sarah that is stunning, you’ve done an amazing job with her make-up, Liz you look beautiful girl!” She grinned and handed over the boots and black jeans.

“Thanks Britt, but I don’t know.” Liz let out a breath, “No ok, stop worrying Liz, it’s time to do this.” Liz got up and had rallied herself up enough to go and get changed, ready for the night.

Time passed really slowly as Liz prepared herself for her small moment to shine. She was excited, and incredibly nervous; her goal was to ham up how much of an asshole Britt was, whilst gaining sympathy for Kenny.

Ok, she can do this.

Her cue was signalled, and she stormed out onto the stage as angrily and with as much concern as she could muster. She rushed over to Kenny and then got right in Britt’s face, she called her as many names as she could think of and Britt backed away, then she went back to Kenny. She put her hand on his cheek and frantically asked the refs and medical staff if he was going to be ok.

“Its ok darling, it’s going to be fine.” Liz consoled Kenny, whilst Ty acted out of it. He was really good at selling, she found herself actually becoming worried for a moment. She held his hand as he got carted out, completely knocked out, and angrily shouted at Britt as they got up to the stage. She flipped her the bird, whilst still trying to act concerned and shouted obscenities and insults, whilst holding Kenny’s hand until they were off the stage.

Once back stage Ty turned to Liz and grinned.

“I knew you’d be fucking brilliant.” He smugly admitted, and Stephen nodded, for Hangman had been also at Kenny’s side during the segment.

“I have to say I’m impressed, you really seemed upset out there Liz.” Stephen admitted and Liz smiled.

“Oh shush you two, I just hope I didn’t embarrass you Ty, I know that people would assume we were dating, and hence why I’m all dolled up, and then I was worried I’d be not concerned, or too concerned, or not aggressive or too aggressive. To be honest, I’m surprised I didn’t just freeze in panic.” Liz admitted sheepishly, and suddenly realised she hadn’t let go of Ty’s hand, she promptly dropped it and wringed her hands a little.

“You did great Liz, truly.”

The rest of the night, Liz got complimented many times by the wrestlers and staff who watched the segment, and when she checked twitter most of the responses were positive. Weirdly lots of people calling her hot and calling Kenny lucky.

It was whilst she was re-watching the segment herself, that she realised that Jim Ross made the call that she **was** in fact Kenny’s girlfriend. She wasn’t told that was going to happen. She was unsure whether it was a call that JR made on the fly or whether he was told to.

“Ty!” she called to her best friend, who turned around to face her. “Were you aware that JR called me your girlfriend on commentary?” Ty looked shocked and came over to watch the segment too.

“No, no I wasn’t…” Ty looked concerned, before reaching up to cup Liz’s face. “I’ll find out why, ok?”

Liz nodded and as Ty turned to go, she grabbed his wrist.

“It’s not the end of the world, I mean, people were going to think it anyway. It was kinda expected.” Liz felt herself break somewhere and sighed.

“Hey, look if it makes you feel weird, we can talk to Tony, or Cody or whoever. We can sort this.” He once again cupped her face, but this time with both hands, looking down at her, deep into her eyes.

“It’s not that Ty.” Liz let out a sigh. “Can we talk about this later, in the hotel?”

Ty nodded, and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

Liz made an excuse to leave early with some of the female pro-wrestlers of AEW, they were headed back to the same hotel and so she hitched a ride with them. They all told her how great the moment was, and how well she did, but Liz couldn’t seem to get more than a “thank you” out. She felt defeated and deflated.

She was going to tell Ty the truth. She wanted to get back to the hotel early so she could a) pack her bag ready to go, and b) see if they had a spare room she could have. She even messaged a friend of hers who was a realtor to see if there was any one-bed apartments in Jacksonville for her to look at for when she got back to Florida. She begun to think about how she can carry on her job working for AEW whilst not going to tapings; she thought that her going to them would be too much for Tyson.

She got to the hotel reception and asked if they had any rooms spare for tonight; they had a few and she reserved one, saying she’d be down to reception in an hour or so with her bags and to book properly, that she had a couple of things she needed to do first. The receptionist nodded and Liz went up to their shared room.

Once in their hotel room, Liz felt the tears come into her eyes that she’d been hold back for what felt like hours now. She looked at the bed they would have shared and smiled.

“I’m going to lose him tonight.” Liz said aloud to herself and began to pack her things into her bag. She took off the Kenny Omega t-shirt that she’d kept on, despite returning the boots and jeans to their regular owners. She wiped off her make-up and put her hair in a bun. Her make up was ruined by the crying anyway, plus who was she trying to impress anymore? She put on the other t-shirt she had packed and let out another sob; it was Ty’s t-shirt he had given her when they were away, and she had forgotten hers. Fuck this was hard.

She texted Ty asking if he was on his way to the hotel; he responded saying he was just in the lift now. Ok. It’s time. Liz went over to Ty’s bag, she smiled; it was still neatly folded where she had packed for him. She was far to meticulous, and Ty always let her pack his stuff for travelling, for she enjoyed things being neat and tidy, and Ty said he didn’t mind. What Liz didn’t know, was that he found it adorable.

Liz heard the click of the lock of the door, it opened, and Ty walked in.

“Hey”

“Hey, why do you look so sad? Liz have you been crying?” Ty rushed over to Liz, face full of concern and Liz stepped back.

“I need to talk to you about something.” Liz felt her throat tighten up as she looked at the man she loved; her best friend, her everything.

“Ok, you’re scaring me Liz, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Ty looked truly worried, and his eyes were wide searching Liz’s face for any clue to what could be wrong.

“I’m not hurt, I just. I have something to tell you.” Liz stopped as the lump in her throat swelled and her eyes begun to fill. “I. I am so sorry.” Liz took a deep breath.

“Sorry for what, please, what is wrong?” Ty tried once again to reach out, but Liz stood back.

“I’ve been lying to you, or well, not telling you the whole truth, basically from since we first met. I am so sorry.” Ty once again tried to ask what was wrong, but Liz cut across him, finally reaching the point of ‘fuck it’. “I am in love with you.” Liz sobbed. “I am in love with you and I have been for a long time. I am **so** sorry I never told you. I am a coward, I didn’t want to lose your friendship, I didn’t want to lose you. But I know now I was wrong. I should have told you sooner, maybe we could have rescued part of our friendship somewhere down the line, but it’s too far now. I’ve invaded your privacy, I’ve taken advantage of your kindness and your love and for that I am so sorry.”

Liz’s face was streaming with tears, as she faced the floor, unable to look in Ty’s eyes.

“I’ve booked a room in this hotel for me to stay in tonight, and tomorrow I will move out of our – I mean your apartment and will begin to find a place of my own.” Liz took a tighter grip of her bag. “I’m sorry Tyson, goodbye.” She then looked up to see Tyson also crying, shaking his head, suddenly he lunged forward and for a second she thought he was going to hit her - understandably too in her mind – but instead he put his hand up, cupping her face as he did mere hours ago, and he kissed her. His lips were soft, softer than she had thought, bigger than hers and gentle, like she was something special that needed to be treated delicately.

Liz was enraptured in the kiss for a moment before her brain caught up with what was going on. She pushed away, a mixture of hurt, angry and guilt.

“Ty, please. Don’t kiss me because you pity me, or you want me to be happy or anything else. I don’t need it and you don’t deserve it; you deserve the most amazing, funny, smart, beautiful and incredible woman. You deserve the best.” She closed her eyes and bit her lip, this was harder than she could even imagine, it would have been easier if he did hit her.

“I do, I’ve found her and she’s amazing and she loves me.” He answered smiling at Liz, who nodded and tried to swallow down the lump in her throat that felt like it kept growing.

“Good! I am so happy for you,” tears were streaming down her face, “You go be with her. I’m going to go.” Again, she turned to leave but Ty put his hands on her waist.

“You don’t understand Liz; it is you. I am in love with you. I have been for a long time. Hell, I wanted to date you after the first night we met. You were like this angel that kicked those guys in their dicks and saved me. You are my best friend and I’ve been pining for you for so long. Desperate for us to be together, but not wanting to ruin this friendship. For you are so special, so amazing and funny and far too smart for me. Please Liz, don’t run. Stay with me. Forever?” Ty had tears streaming down his face and Liz couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She turned to him and put her hand on his cheek.

“You love, me?” She asked and he nodded through a sob.

“Yeah you silly, my best friend, Elizabeth James.” Liz let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. They embraced for a while, both not really believing that this was in fact happening. How did they get this lucky?

They parted after a long time of holding each other near. They had fallen in love with their best friend and that best friend loved them back, what more did they need?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What more do they need? Well a good bit of smutty goodness maybe? We shall see, I shall debate on whether I feel comfortable able to write smut to a decent-ish level and then post on the internet. We shall see. If not, and I mark this story as complete, then this is complete.  
> I hope you enjoyed it and found it somewhat enjoyable. Please give me any constructive criticisms you have, as well as encouragement to write this filthy, filthy smut. Take care, and stay safe <3


	8. The Smut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to do it. So here's some smut. Please note, this is my first time writing anything remotely sexual, and though I am an adult with a fair bit of sexual experience, it is an entirely different thing to write it. So I tip my hat to you smut writers; you make it look so easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Smut. WARNING this is sexual, pls don't read if you find that uncomfortable.

Ty let out a breath, he couldn’t believe this was happening. Liz was laid out on the bed looking at him with want in her eyes.

He begun by unbuttoning her jeans and pressing a kiss to her abdomen just above the waistline, he could feel her buck her hips slightly and he let out a chuckle, before pulling the jeans off. Ty went straight back to where he was, between her legs, kissing her just above her underwear, before pressing open kisses all the way down to wear her clit was. He could feel her warmth through the cotton of her underwear, and he reached up with his fingers to gently peel them off too. Liz was breathing heavy, reacting to his every touch, and as Ty looked down to her pussy – of course that was pretty too.

He traced his fingers over her, blowing cool air onto her clit and enjoying the way Liz took in a sharp breath, before uttering a quiet “please”. Now, how could he say no to that? He started with his tongue, licking gently at her clit, before reaching a finger into his mouth to make it wet and then sliding it into her. Liz again took in a breath and breathed out another “please”, that went straight to Ty’s dick. He kept going with his tongue, licking in circles, gradually increasing the pace. He crooked his finger inside her, searching for her g-spot – oh there it was – as Liz bucked into his hand letting out a moan. She covered her mouth embarrassed, but Ty shook his head.

“I want to hear you, tell me what you like.” He responded and Liz blushed.

“That. I like that.” She let out and Ty nodded, before placing his tongue back on her clit. She tasted like skin, but it had a slight tang to it; different but good.

He increased the pace, sliding another finger into her and curling them up over and over to reach her g-spot, and in response he got to hear the beautiful moans that Liz let out. Her breathing was erratic, and she clenched the bedsheets, squirming and throwing back her head. It felt so good, so good and she didn’t know what to do. The pleasure kept building, and every buck and moan and whisper of his name, kept Ty encouraged as his wrist begun to hurt.

“Oh please, please don’t stop.” Liz let out, as Ty felt her body tighten up, and her pussy clenching around his fingers, Liz let out another moan, higher pitched as she bucked her hips into his hand, her pussy clenching and releasing over and over around Ty’s fingers as she came.

After a few moments, Ty took his fingers out of her and Liz felt the loss without them. He leaned up and kissed her and Liz, who had kind of collapsed after her orgasm, reached up and to Ty’s hair and pulled him back into another kiss. She rolled them over so she could be on top of him and sat up to straddle his hips.

Liz begun kissing down Ty’s chest, and the abs that got her so hot and bothered the first time they met. She let her lips trail down to his boxers and Ty lifted his hips to help her remove them.

She didn’t know what she expected of Ty’s dick, but it was bigger than she thought, and felt suddenly nervous. She started by licking the tip, gently, and then up and down from the base up the shaft and down again. Ty started making such pretty noises, little moans and fast breaths, so Liz assumed she was doing ok.

Ty could feel her mouth kissing down her shaft and he let a “tease” escape his lips and looked down to see Liz looking smug. She then looked him in the eye as she sunk down onto his cock and he could feel the back of her throat, he let out a guttural moan before closing his eyes and arching his back.

“Liz. Please” hearing Ty moan hit something deep and primal within her; she wanted to make him moan. She bobbed her head, using her hand to get to the part where her mouth couldn’t reach, she twirled her tongue around the tip and ran it down the shaft with every bob of her head. Each time he hit the back of her throat, she felt herself want to gag, so she tried to take less of him into her mouth.

For Ty, everything felt like Liz; her smell, her warmth on his dick, whatever she was doing with her tongue that caused his hips to buck involuntarily, he couldn’t get enough and was finding himself fucking into her mouth in rhythm, getting dangerously close to his orgasm.

“Liz. Liz, I want to fuck you, please. If you carry on, I’m going to cum. And as much as I want to – oh my god I want to, I want to fuck you please.” Ty moaned and begged, and Liz slowed her pace, pulling off with a popping sound.

“I want you to fuck me too.” She said so quietly, like she was embarrassed, despite having done the obscene things she did with her tongue.

“Then come up here,” Ty answered and pulled Liz up to him to kiss her, he could taste him in her mouth, and he moaned. “Ok, god, you’re amazing Liz.” He leaned down to kiss her again, a small peck before helping her take off her shirt and bra. He kissed at both of her breasts and took each nipple into his mouth to suck and lick. Each kiss and nibble had Liz letting out quiet moans and grinding up against him.

He then used his hand to lead his dick to her pussy, so warm and wet for him, and he slid inside, slowly. Liz moaned and arched her back as he filled her, so deep, too deep, not deep enough. She wrapped her legs around him, holding her there for a moment, enjoying the feeling of being filled by him.

After she let him go, Ty begun a pace, fucking into her slowly, enjoying the way her pussy seemed to pull him back in. Each thrust got faster, and deeper, as he worked to Liz’s moans.

“You feel so good” he told her, and she moaned again, pulling him down to kiss her, the kiss was open and wet and perfect as they moved together.

As Ty felt his orgasm close, his thrusts grew sporadic and each snap of his hips brought him closer. Liz reached down and begun touching herself, rubbing her clit using her wetness as lube. Ty watched and had never seen something so hot in his life, as she moaned his name over and over.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna cum again.” Liz moaned, eyes wide in a shock as she felt herself get closer, “Don’t stop, please.” She pleaded and Ty did his best not to, feeling her tighten and tighten and he hunched over feeling his orgasm rip through him, he saw white as he heard Liz’s high pitch moan and felt her clenching over and over.

They stayed there for a while, until it got a bit uncomfortable for Ty, and Liz hobbled to the bathroom to pee. Ty quickly got the shower head and washed himself, after being so sweaty, and as he stepped out and Liz finished brushing her teeth, he kissed her, slowly and gently.

“I love you Liz.”

“I love you to Ty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end end. I hope you enjoyed and didn't cringe too much. Take care, be careful out there, Black Lives Matter.


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